1874-10-29: The Wastes of Galenthia
The Wastes of Galenthia
IC Date: 29 Octobre, 1874 IE
Related Information: BB 17/226
MarchofSand.jpg

Southern Galenthia - hashed red indicates extent of Parthian conquest

All across the coast one warm early autumn day in Octobre, the southrons came. They swept away the Royal Galenthian Navy and Sokar Red Sails ships which had hopelessly opposed them, from the Ergonians to the mighty Straits of St Daved, where the Great Salt disgorged into the Ocean just shy of the city of Firen. Swarming in their merchant ships, these men of the burnt lands disgorged in seething masses, laying waste to the coast. All over, from Almeria, to Dalcen, to Alnburgh, and Duval, the Great Fortresses penned up and besieged. Later, the rest of the southern Empire of Partharia's ships came, and along with them, the real soldiers.

Where were the mighty Galenthians, those intractable soldiers who'd so mauled the Thorns, Kentaire and Rikton? Never yielding, never surrendering. But now, the Galenthians were mauled not by the cream of Parthia's soldiers but by their sheer numbers, sometimes withdrawing in orderly fashion, fighting running battles, but other times simply melting away in the face of the foe, pursued and cut down. In their wake, burnt villages, fields, rubble. Galenthian citizens fled north, or were slaughtered by the invader, or else enslaved. Little remains but a morass of desolation along the once vibrant coast.

Now, the battle lines are drawn. The Keeper of the Seals, Alfred Gwynain, holds command of those forces defending in and around Firen, which has become a fortress in its own right. Still connected to the western coast, the Royal Galenthian Navy has withdrawn on this flank and essentially ceded the Great Salt River to the Empire of Partharia, but the link to the ocean is still enough to keep hope alive. Elsewhere in the Crownlands, the Knight Marshal Duke Letholdus fights to hold on to his County of Alicante, swarmed by the enemy.

In the Southern and Eastern provinces, the situation is much the same. Parthia controls the coasts, less the Great Fortresses. These are well provisioned to potentially withstand years of siege, but can they withstand assault? Galenthian field troops in the Duchies of Sokar and Tarris have pulled back north to the interior, leaving their besieged brethren to fend for themselves… for now. Under their Brigadiers and Lord Marshal, Galenthians and their Njorfolk allies of Dorling dart forth to raid, ambush and cut enemy supplies. Probing, harassing, seeking weakness. Many have been lost, but many remain. The hinterlands are deep.

The Parthians throw tens of thousands of slave and client kingdom troops at the fortresses, rebuffed with rivers of blood. Meanwhile, their real retainer troops maintain fortified camps, watching as the fodder is ground. They've moved forward occasionally to attempt to trap the Galenthians field forces, but to no avail; those hardy soldiers know the land and plan meticulously. But more of these slave and client troops seem to materialise each day, supplied across the Salt by endless Parthian ships. The Salt is a Parthian possession now. How long can Galenthia hold out?

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